Abstract: The NZXT Havik 120 heatsink ships with two 120mm FZ fans that attach to either side of the heatsink fin tower. Users can get by with only one fan if they so desire, but as the impeller speed is 1500RPM it's best to use both fans.

On the heatsink test bench today is NZXT's Havik
120 heatsink, a tower style CPU cooler designed for Intel socket
2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM2/AM3/AM3+/FM1 processors. The Havik
120 is a pretty typical tower heatsink that ships with two 120mm PWM fans
(NZXT's special 'FZ' 13-blade fans) capable of each moving 75CFM per the mfgr's
spec. The FZ fans operate at 1500-1200RPM and generate about 54.6 dBA noise
according to Frostytech's real world sound measurements.

Despite it's name, the Havik 120 is only a bit smaller in actuality than the
Havik 140 heatsink. While the latter had a footprint of
135x115mm, the Havik 120 heatsink has a slightly more compact footprint of
128x114mm. The Havik 120 weighs 980 grams and stands 161mm tall, it's built
around four 8mm diameter copper heatpipes which are not exposed at the base.

Gone are the typical wire fan clips and in their place
we find a set of large 'rubber bands' for mounting the fans. The 'rubber-band'
system is a whole lot easier to install, but your guess is
as good as mine as to how well this elastomer will hold up after a couple
years of continual heating and cooling cycles inside a PC chassis.
MTBF is pegged at 30,000 hours.

One novel aspect of the Havik 120's design are the
edges of its aluminum fins. Each fin has a blunt knife edge which helps ease
airflow through the aluminium fin stack by decreasing air flow resistance. If you look really closely at the Havik 120, you'll see a 1mm edge taper
from 0.5mm down to about 0.25mm. Gigabyte tried a similar
technique in 2006 with good results. Xigmatek have rolled this technique out on several of its
own-brand heatsinks like the Prime SD1484 which Frostytech recently tested.

The NZXT
Havik 120 cooler retails for around $50 bucks at the usual U.S., Canadian and
European online computer stores
Frostytech recommends.

NZXT's
Havik 120 heatsink uses a relatively wide 2.0mm fin pitch and modified leading
and trailing fin edges. What we mean by that, is rather than the natural
90-degree edges where the aluminum fins have been sheared from the sheet metal
roll, each fin has gone through the press one additional time and been given a
blunted 'knife edge' taper.

(Notice the
tapered fin edges)

The knife edge is somewhat asymmetrical on the
heatsink Frostytech evaluated, though it's hard to say if that's by design or
just a side effect of this manufacturing step.

Along the side of the 105mm aluminum fin tower, every other
fin tip has been bent to partially close off the space.

The Havik
120 heatsink doesn't feature exposed heatpipes at the base, so instead of four
8mm diameter heatpipes we find a standard nickel plated copper base plate
soldered to the heatpipes. The copper acts as a heatspreader to distribute the
heat energy from the CPU over a wider surface area. Exposed heatpipes lack this heatspreading capability
and with smaller IHS processors, only the central heatpipes may receive the
majority of heat energy from the CPU.

The NZXT Havik 120 heatsink ships with two 120mm FZ fans
(AF-FZ120-01) that attach to either side of the heatsink fin tower. Users can
get by with only one fan if they so desire, but as the impeller speed is 1500RPM
it's best to use both fans.

Heatsink Installation Hardware:

NZXT's Havik 120 heatsink is compatible with Intel socket
2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD socket AM2/AM3/FM1 processors. The heatsink
comes with one rear metal support bracket for Intel/AMD motherboards that will
require you to access to the back of the board. Depending on the computer case
you may need to remove the motherboard to install this heatsink. After the upper
metal stand offs are installed, subsequent CPU swaps are relatively
straightforward.

AMD platforms make use of the same basic heatsink
brackets, which is a shame since AMD supplies a nice heatsink retention cage on
every single motherboard.

The
brackets take a little bit of time to install but will firmly hold the heatsink
in place. An extra rubber fan bracket, thermal compound and fan power splitters
are also supplied.

FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is
used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move
forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics,
and of course its performance in the thermal tests!